Jim Irsay on protests: “There are other places to express yourself”

Colts owner Jim Irsay gives off a distinctly counter-culture vibe, from his psychedelic Twitter feed to his track record of prescription drug problems.

But when it comes to protesting the national anthem, Irsay suddenly becomes The Man.

As part of a story about the NFL’s sagging television ratings this year, Irsay told Jarrett Bell of USA Today that the national anthem protests triggered by 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick were a bad look for the league.

“I think it’s the wrong venue,” Irsay said. “It hasn’t been a positive thing. What we all have to be aware of as players, owners, PR people, equipment managers, is when the lights go on we are entertainment. We are being paid to put on a show. There are other places to express yourself.”

Of course, he’s far from the only owner to share a dim view of the expression of First Amendment rights, though most who have spoken on the topic try to steer the conversation back to the middle.

“People come to the game because they want to get away from what’s happening in their everyday lives,” Texans owner Bob McNair said. “When you bring those types of things into the scene, yeah, it will turn some people off. But the main thing we try to do is to say, ‘We recognize your concern. Let’s do something about it.’ ”

Most owners are willing to point to the presidential election as the thing siphoning off most of the television ratings this year. But for a business as mainstream as the NFL, there seems to be a high level of discomfort with anyone stepping out of line, or kneeling on the sidelines.

And having Irsay — the rock and roll rebel of the bunch — voicing that opinion only underscores how uncomfortable the league must be.

53 responses to “Jim Irsay on protests: “There are other places to express yourself””

Jim irsay is the last owner anyone should take advice from. He got caught with tons of pills and a bag of cash filled with 30,000 dollars not to mention the multiple DUI’s he should be in jail not running one of the most disappointing franchises in the NFL.

Of all the stupid things for somebody to make a big deal of, ‘Not standing in lockstep when everyone else to pledge your allegiance to a country that should be beyond such childish things’ is pretty high up there right now.

It’s like they simultaneously have no idea what freedom is about (not just your archaic definition) AND they think that there’s nothing to see when it comes to the actual reason for the protest (which…holy crap, how do some of these policemen have jobs? They’re ruining it for the good ones!)

He does not take a dim view of First Amendment rights. He takes the correct view. The First Amendment only applies to government restrictions on speech. It does not apply to private employers. If a business is being harmed by an employee’s on the job statements, the employer has every right to demand that those statements stop. As a fan of the NFL, I view it as an escape from politics. Irsay gets that most of us feel that way and is simply protecting his business.

He’s only saying what all the other owners are afraid to say b/c they don’t wanna be labeled as racist. He runs a business & this is hurting his business. Eventually the players are gonna realize they need the owners business to be profitable in order for the players to make the money they love/enjoy. Upsetting the people who pay your bills is a bad thing, you’d think billionaires & millionaires would know this. United We Stand.

We saw players convicted of manslaughter play in the league and ratings didn’t go down. We all watched a player punch a woman in the face and ratings didn’t go down. We saw horrible pictures of injuries inflicted by a player to his child….and ratings didn’t go down. We watch players sustain serious life-altering injuries regularly…and ratings don’t go down.

The cumulative arrest sheet for active players in this league is tremendously long…We make light of the police blotter on this very site….and ratings don’t go down.

To single out lawful, peaceful, brief and mostly unintrusive signs of protests to bring light to issues that, if addressed, could make this country even greater is indicative of an incredibly selective application of morality.

I can’t stand when people say anyone against or says anything negative about what Kaepernick is doing, is against the First Amendment. That is horrible logic thrown out by the left. People can be ok with him using his First Amendment rights and still be against what he is doing.

This has been said many times but it needs to be said again….. The First Amendment gives you the ability of Free Speech, but it does not protect you from criticisms or people disagreeing. It only protects you from the government doing something.

Actually, anyone that says to the people that disagree with what he is doing or that says anything negative about him, that they are against the First Amendment…… are actually the ones against the First Amendment. What you are saying is Kaepernick is within his First Amendment rights to do what he is doing but no one else is allowed to use their First Amendment rights to express anything negative about what he is doing.

When I was a teenager, I was arguing with my Dad about “my constitutional rights” and the US being a democracy. He finally informed me that my constitutional rights started and ended at his property boundary. I could practice all the rights I wanted off his property, but, inside that area, he was the dictator and I could live within his dictatorial rules.

@averagejoe11 I agree 100% I just don’t understand how people cant see their hypocrisy! Kill someone, ahhh whens the next game! Beat your wife, ahhh whens the next game. Don’t stand up for the national anthem, PURE OUTRAGE! Its a very silly logic and selective morality! with a whole lot of racial undertones

Watching football was a great escape. Now there is none. They decided to bring stinking politics into the game. No escape unless you quit watching. So I do just that. I don’t care to see whose kneeling, crying, jumping, raising a fist, holding hands or whatever moment they want to have. I turn it on after I know they have had their little “look at us” moment. You do you….

This really isn’t about Jim Irsay or Colin Kaepernick. It’s about innocent people getting needlessly killed, and then innocent cops being needlessly retaliated against. If nobody else cares, some of these NFL players obviously do. It’s their brothers and sisters that are getting killed. America has always strived to be great. Kaepernick is just being a good American and striving for greatness. Nothing wrong with that. I don’t like seeing cops (Dallas) getting gunned down on TV. Do you?

I wish they wouldn’t even come out for the anthem. I’d rather them stay in the locker room and then come out afterwards. That way they wouldn’t even have to acknowledge the anthem and flag. The people get what they want and The Man gets what they want.

Either way, I’d rather Esau Irsay just be quiet because he’s probably drunk.

Some watch to get away from their “everyday lives” but I watch to see the protests… I should get what I want to as I am a paying customer as well.

Hard to think of a lot of jobs where employees are allowed to make a peaceful political protest of some kind every day at their place of employment. I can’t think of any. At the same time, if one wished to make a high visibility political protest at your place of work, I can’t think of a better venue than one where the employer suffers PR issues if they interfere. This could become a regular thing now that precedent is set. And it will no doubt spread elsewhere where similar dynamics exist.

Maybe the NFL has too many games on television in one week which was weakened the product. In my view if I want to see grown men act like kids with their crazy antics on the field. I would watch reruns of the late Mexican comedian Chespirito’s show The Kid From Number Eight (El Chavo Del Ocho).

The only “dialogue” Squid has inspired is unprintable in a public forum for the most part. Racial harmony within the NFL and outside of it seems the worse for wear since the dolt exhumed the 1960s and tried to cast himself as the new Muhammed Ali. Since the old one finally bit the dust after 40 years as a vegetable.

Jason Whitlock calls out Kaepernick for the cheap, shallow fraud he is, but no one else in public media has the confidence or character to do so.

Well, here’s the thing. The players are using NFL games and the national TV audience for THEIR protest. Not the NFL’s protest – the players’ protest. The players don’t own the games or the TV rights. But they are using NFL presentations….for their own purposes. They have no “right” to do that. But the NFL is allowing it. So, I would also like to use NFL games and their TV audiences for my protest issues. I want to protest the illegal aliens invading our country. Now, since I also have 1st Amendment rights, the NFL has to let me do it, right?

As a Vietnam Era Navy Veteran I support anyone’s right to speak out but I totally disagree with some millionaire athlete using NFL TV games to disrespect the flag which is a symbol of a country that thousands of Veterans gave their lives to allow free speech. Protest it in other ways like marching with protestors or working to help minority families learn how to be better family oriented or working with minority kids to care about getting an education. Lots of us have stopped watching NFL games and if we all stop maybe these rich protestors who live a life that very few of us can will learn the hard way that their salaries depend on us watching them play.

i wish owners would do what he did with crommarte and fire any and all players who use sports for there f_cked up protests. if these players would learn to read and write they might see what is actually going on with there bros and sis’s. i would watch football again if all players got fired for there protests. i bet you that owners are starting to see revenue starting to fall. believe me when i say these players can be replaced!!!!